Monday, June 3, 2013

Insert Another Classic War Story Here (part 2 of 5)

It was a quiet early morning. The blue ocean glittered as the sun's rays touched its surface, the birds glided as the wind blew from the north, icebergs floated by with a polar bear climbing onto one. The drones of flying machines broke the silence of that very morning.

"ETA 30 seconds. Get ready," announced Terry on the radio. He watched the other helicopters, a total of three transport choppers and one gunship, flying in formation for attack. Ivan was finishing his bottle of beer and tossed it, once empty, into the ocean below; Terry just shook his head when Ivan gave a questioning look. Two more jets suddenly flew into the formation, and the pilots in the cockpits gave thumb ups at the occupants of the helicopter.

"Delta-Four-One, this is Charlie-Six-Bravo, flight of two F-18s, four HARMs for the section. Standby for SEAD, over," reported the jets.

"Solid copy, Charlie. Go get 'em," replied the pilots in the helicopters. The jets sped up a little, their exhaust flames turning from light blue to clear purple.

"Good tone. Good tone. Magnum. Magnum." Two missiles per aircraft dropped from the tip of their wings. The rocket engines fired up, and they rocketed to a radio tower at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the shore.

BOOM!

The missiles blew the rock face to smithereens as the jets pulled out of the formation, turning the tower into a twisted heap of metal.

"Good kill. Good kill. Delta-Four-One, you're clear all the way. Good luck," said the pilot in one of the jets.

A dark plume of smoke from the resulting explosion rose up to the sky, which the helicopters flew through. A castle could be seen in the distance, and they were getting closer and closer. The gunship that was behind the transport helicopters moved forward, its nose-mounted minigun spooling.

"Four going in hot," said the pilot of the gunship as it increased its altitude from below the transports to above.

"Copy that," replied the pilot of one of the transports.

"Guns guns guns. Guns guns guns," reported the gunship as it let out a burst of rounds from its minigun towards the main watchtower at one edge of the castle. After obliterating the watchtower, the transport helicopters hovered around the castle, with its occupants pointing their guns out at the castle guards. The guards were hastily running on the castle walls, trying to activate the dormant anti-air missile defences on each of the ancient towers.

"Stabilize. All snipers – clear to engage," spoke Terry on the radio. The snipers fired shots on the castle guards, taking out the resistance before they could retaliate. Once the initial wave of guards had been eliminated, the transport helicopters edged over the castle walls and dropped ropes. The insertion force rappelled down the ropes, taking position on the castle walls and clearing the ground of enemies. That was when the plothole opened.

-

The Agents emerged out of the plothole onto a helipad, immediately stunned by the chaos caused by the insertion force invading the castle. Further guards came out of the inner castle entrance, firing their automatic weapons at the Agents. The Agents quickly deployed their ray shields, blocking enemy gunfire. But since the attack had been so sudden, they each still stood a distance away from each other. The deafening bullets caused some Agents to flinch.

"I didn't expect to be attacked this early on!" remarked Kyle; he was being pushed back by the sheer volume of gunfire he received. Ingrid stepped forward and blocked the bullets for him while he regained his composure.

"Huddle up and form a wall! Our defences will be better that way!" yelled Tom behind Ingrid, over the noise of ricocheting bullets. The Agents immediately agreed, getting together and forming a wall. Now that they were together, they could better formulate a plan for attack.

"Rhia! Get to the back and snipe the bastards!" Ingrid yelled. Rhia quickly moved to the back and retracted her shield, then pulled out her sniper rifle. She looked down the sight and fired at the enemy soldiers, hitting them either through the shoulder or the leg.

With some of the soldiers severely incapacitated, the gunfire toned down, and the rest of the Agents felt more confident and moved forward. Ossa led the charge, running towards the nearest soldier standing upon open ground, and bashing him in the face with her shield. With a quick glance, she immediately retracted her shield and pulled her katana from its sheath, slicing across another soldier that was about to melee her with the butt of his rifle.

Karissa was a bit more daring; she became invisible, lunged at an unsuspecting guard, and then jumped on his shoulders in order to place Gekkou around his neck. The guard suffocated; dropping his weapon he attempted to grab at the invisible chain that choked him. He soon dropped to the ground, frantically gasping for air, and moments later he stopped moving. Foam appeared from the corners of his mouth. Charis stood in front of the line of fire with her ray shield out as Karissa morphed out of invisibility, panting heavily.

"You alright?" asked Charis. Karissa nodded and straightened up.

Ingrid, however, was taking out the hostiles with her ACR assault rifle. Almost each shot was to the head, since enemy survivors in this game were prone to literally back-stabbing you when you were not looking. She then pulled out a knife and threw it at the castle entrance in the second section. It bounced off the ground and hit a running soldier in the head. Ingrid herself stared in surprise as the knife was meant to distract the enemy, not kill them. She quickly looked towards the inner castle entrance and picked out the guards.

As the Society Agents made their way through the first section of open ground, guards appeared on the second floor balconies. They poured suppressing fire on the Agents, causing all to throw an arm up and defend with the ray shield. The gunship hovered above the Agents, spooling its minigun, shredding the guards on the first section balcony. Hot bullet casings expended onto the ground, rattling as they hit the surface. Once the balcony had been cleared, the Agents made a move into the second section, where a second group of guards on another balcony attempted to impede the Agents' movements. Rhia tried to take one out, but the guard's companions sprayed bullets all over the place, and she had no choice but to duck behind her ray shield. Tom tried to get closer and managed to get one with his shield, but he moved back when Ingrid yelled.

"Tom, get out of the crossfire!" Some bullets ricocheted on the ground near him, so he quickly backed up to the Agents. Sniper fire from across the castle took the remaining guards out, and the Agents were able to retract their ray shields and pull out their weapons again. Just as they were about to enter the castle, their radios came to life.

"Hold up. We're coming in from the south face," said a male voice. The Agents looked at the stated direction; they saw two soldiers in white ghillie suits rappelling down the castle walls. They walked briskly towards the Agents, wielding their sniper rifles.

"I'm Terry. This is Ivan. We're here to assist you on this mission." The shorter soldier made the introductions. The Agents nodded in acknowledgement, and with Ingrid leading in the front, the group slowly went down the steps into the castle.

"Watch those corners. The enemy will appear very soon," warned Terry. And soon enough, the guards rushed towards them while firing. Ingrid immediately deployed her ray shield; the bullets bounced off with ringing 'ping' sounds. Kyle, opening his Astral Vault, took out a flamethrower and blasted flames at the guards. The hostiles caught on fire, running randomly over the catwalk railings and falling off.

"That's the control room up ahead! We can use it to find Doug!" remarked Ingrid, pointing towards the room. A guard tried to ambush them, but Tom landed a kick into his gut and struck him down with his sword. They all entered the room and saw many screens, feeding them images from external security cameras. They could see more hostile groups converging on the castle's centre. Charis took out the hardened laptop she'd been provided and started typing away.

"I'll tap into the system and look for him. It's going to take some time," she said, running to another computer and hitting its keys too.

"Ingrid, you can go on for cell duty. We'll take care of her," reported Terry, gesturing with his hand for Ivan to guard the catwalk. Ingrid nodded and continued down the steps to the cells. The other Agents followed her down, deploying their ray shields whenever they encountered enemy fire. Tom went up ahead, bashing the nearest hostile he faced. The guard was incapacitated immediately.

"Wow, that was relatively easy," remarked Tom in surprise. He took on a few more, but he was unprepared for the one guard who rushed him and beat him down with his weapon; Tom tripped and fell to the floor. The guard drew out his pistol, ready to kill him when an energy arrow flew past and grazed his knee. The guard dropped to the floor and crawled away to cover. Tom looked back and saw Valerie holding Seiryu, aimed perfectly at the fleeing guard. She didn't have the heart to kill him, so she drew the bow and aimed at a target near to the man, firing the energy arrow at the target's arm. This other guard dropped his weapon and cowered behind the closest cover. Valerie then pulled Tom away from the crossfire and into the shield wall. The guard who'd crawled away was about to make a last stand by drawing out his pistol when a shot rang and hit him right at the neck.

"Kill them if you have to. You don't want to get stabbed in the back by one of these guys," reminded Terry on the radio. Ben stepped forward and strummed Bahamut, sending forceful waves at the hostiles, knocking them off their feet. This cleared the way for the Agents to advance once more.

As they advanced and checked every cell, a group of soldiers attempted to stop them. With Ossa and Jess at the helm, and Ingrid giving covering fire, the girls did some considerable damage to the guards' ability to fight back. Tom was a bit unlucky; a bullet grazed his leg. To him, it was as painful as getting shot. Ingrid put up her shield while Valerie dragged him back to the control room. They had finally finished inspecting each cell; there was no sign of Doug.

"Talk to me, guys... these cells are deserted," said Jess with a worried tone in her voice. A reply came almost immediately.

"Got it! Doug has been transferred to the east wing! Bypass the lower floors by rappelling down the open grill to your left!" exclaimed Charis. Ingrid saw the open grill and tied two ropes to the nearest obstacle. She threw the loose end of the ropes down then climbed swiftly down. Ossa, Jess, Kyle, Rhia, Karissa and Ben followed after, while Valerie took Tom back to the control room to check out his injuries. After reaching the ground floor, Kyle opened his Astral Vault, taking out an M4A1 rifle and pulling its bolt, emptying the gun chamber.

"Head through solitary confinement. It's the only way to the shower room," reported Charis. Ingrid and Kyle led the team, immediately firing on the guards who entered from the other side of the area. As the gunfire became too intense, Kyle and Ingrid took cover while Ossa and Jess moved forward with their ray shields, bashing the guards.

As the two women entered the cells to take on the cowering guards, Ben strummed Bahamut again, sending an energy blast in that general direction. Some of the guards who got in the way were cringing and covering their ears, moaning in pain. Rhia ran forward and looked around the corner through her sniper scope. A lone guard was retreating, and she made a shot through his leg and shoulder blade. The guard dropped dead, allowing Rhia to head to an entrance to the hallway. She stood beside it, hearing footsteps nearing the entrance. She drew out her frying pan, and as soon as the next man came out, the frying pan made contact with his face.

WONK!

The guard was completely knocked out as Ingrid and Kyle joined her side. The three moved into the hallway, with Ben, Ossa and Jess covering their backs. They walked down the hallway, only to reach a dead end.

"We're watching from the security feed. Breach the wall on your left to get into the old shower room," reported Terry on the radio. The Agents stared at the wall before Ben spoke.

"Stay back, guys. I'm blowing up the wall," stated Ben. Ingrid leaned away from the wall in which Ben intended to make his hole; the other Agents followed suit. With a strong strum that could potentially break weaker guitar strings, the shockwave he produced blasted a pathway through several soldiers clear through to the end of the shower rooms. Surviving soldiers wailed in pain and rolled upon the floor, experiencing the damage to their ears. The ones near the wall were hit by the wall pieces; they're never going to make it.

Ingrid entered the hole, firing several shots at escaping soldiers to incapacitate them permanently. Several soldiers did manage to recover from the deafening noise and fire from the second floor. The Agents that had entered after Ingrid activated their shields. Bullets ricocheted off the shields, but the fire never ceased. Ingrid, hugging the walls of the shower room, tossed a grenade up into the second floor.

"Grenade!" yelled one of the soldiers before his entire team was blown to bits by the tiny steel ball. Kyle used his mounted grenade launcher and fired a grenade at the soldiers on the opposite side. The second floor was instantly cleared out.

"Head to the hole at the far end of the showers. The sewers should lead you to the east wing," reported Charis on the radio. Ingrid jumped down the hole and into the sewers, with the rest of the Agents following her. She reached a railing and climbed over, then slid the rest of the way on a slope. Upon reaching the end of the slope, some feminine voices called out a warning.

"Friendlies at your nine! Watch your fire!" warned Rina as she led Maddie and Lydia towards the tunnel's junction. The Society Agents joined them as Rina placed a C4 charge on the wall.

"Stand back! Stand back!" yelled Rina as she waved the Agents to move out of range. At a safe distance, she pushed the trigger, blasting the wall apart. Maddie then rushed in first, hoping to find her lost lover. Before the others could follow, she was immediately thrown out. She shrieked in pain as she slammed into the wall. An unidentified figure bounded towards Maddie, landing a hand around her throat, his other fist smashing the wall next to her head. Just as quick the figure pinned her down, he bit her neck, which she responded to with a bloody gurgle. Ingrid, Kyle and Rina were about to open fire on the man when Lydia stopped them.

"Wait! That's Doug!" announced Lydia. Rina stared in disbelief as she watched her twin sucking his lover dry. His glowing red eyes proved that he was in his berserk mode.

"That's going too far! Guys, help me pry him off Maddie!" said Rina as she ran and latched her hands on Doug's forehead and throat. Ingrid and Kyle wrapped their arms around his torso, Ben on his left arm and Rhia on his right. Ossa and Jess each took hold of one of his legs. Lydia squeezed herself in between Doug and Maddie, and tried to push them apart.

"Come on... come on..." The Agents struggled as hard as they could, straining their muscles against someone so resistant he could be mistaken for a cement truck with its brakes on. Doug was unbelievably strong; even with all of them pulling him away, he still clung to his prey tightly.

"Doug..." It was only when Maddie softly cried his name that the glow in his eyes faded a bit and he seemed to regain some sense. He immediately let go, causing all of them to fall down. Maddie slumped to the ground, too weak to stand up. Some blood trickled from the wounds Doug's fangs had made.

"What the hell?" was Doug's first response as he looked around him. Different Agents were getting up as energy returned to them, but some couldn't get over the exertion to their bodies. Kyle put out a relatively stable hand to Doug.

"Welcome back, Doug," he said, pulling his comrade up.

"What the hell happened?" asked Doug again, a confused look on his face.

"You were kidnapped. Don't you remember?" stated Ingrid. His face just turned sour.

"Damn that Aryan! He took out so much of my blood to create a clone," cursed Doug, only to have his attention diverted by Rina and Lydia calling Maddie's name. Doug took one look at the weakened girl and quickly attended to her.

"Maddie! Maddie! Can you hear me?" exclaimed Doug, shaking her by the shoulders. She looked up at him and smiled weakly.

"Doug, you came back..." said Maddie before closing her eyes.

"Maddie! MADELINE!" yelled Doug as he held her tightly; a tear streaked down his cheek. His love reacted by saying a few words.

"I'm not so easy to kill...I survived the first war... I'll survive this one," she whispered into his ear. Doug sniffled, wiping his damp eyes. Rina had to tap him on the shoulder to gain attention; Doug looked into the face of his twin.

"She'll survive. Come on, we have to get you outta here," said Rina. Doug slipped his hands under his lover's body, carrying her bridal style.

"Come on, let's go," he reaffirmed bluntly. Kyle took out his Plothole Generator and tried to open a plothole. It didn't work. Then the radio crackled.

"The fandom has been sealed! We can't generate any plotholes and we've lost contact with HQ!" exclaimed Terry on the radio. Then Charis spoke up.

"I've lost all contact to the Library. We're on our own now," stated Charis. The Agents began to worry; and their nerves were not calmed as explosions started sounding randomly around the castle.

"Oscar-Six, we have artillery fire directed at the castle. Everyone, get the hell outta there!" reported the pilot left outside in one of the transports.

"Come on, follow me!" yelled Rina as she went back through the hole in the wall. The Agents followed her since the simpler way back to the Library was blocked. For some reason they entered a different hallway than when they'd first come in; and at the end, a helicopter was waiting.

"There's the helo! Get ready to jump!" exclaimed Rina frantically as the ceiling began to give way. There was noise from the radio that faintly stated that Ivan, Terry, Charis, Valerie and Tom had already managed to escape into a chopper. As the group on the ground neared their exit, chunks of the ceiling fell, blocking the path.

"Go back! Go back! We'll find another way out! This way! This way!" exclaimed Rina, almost panicking. They entered a cafeteria, where a dud bomb had made a hole through the layers of ceiling above.

"It's a dead end!" exclaimed Karissa, anxiety setting in.

"Four-Two, where the hell are you, over!" yelled Rina into the radio.

"Oscar-Six, there's too much smoke! I can't see you! I can't see you..." reported the helicopter. Rina quickly loaded a flare into the muzzle of her rifle, firing it through the broken ceiling.

"Oscar-Six, I see your flare. SPIE rig on the way," said the pilot as a long rope was thrown to them after a small delay.

"Everyone go in twos! Hook up!" yelled Rina as the ongoing artillery fire rang in their ears. Rina and Lydia hooked up together, followed by Doug and Maddie, Ben and Kyle, Ingrid and Karissa, Ossa and Jess, and finally Rhia at the very end of the line.

"Hang on!" said Rina as the rope jerked upwards, pulling them up and out of the castle. Just as the last two were clear from the castle, the dud exploded, sending a column of flames up. Rhia instinctively shielded herself, but the heat below was relatively harmless. The helicopter set its course away from the castle, with artillery fire still pounding in the background.

-

"The fandom is sealed, but the package escaped," said an officer, behind whom a displeased looking Aryan stood. He posed with his arms folded. He was not pleased with Doug's escape.

"Activate our generators. We assault the world now!" commanded Aryan.

"Yes sir," replied the officer. Outside the control tower, an army was assembled, looking towards a large canvas sheet. A ray cannon appeared from a silo underground, directed at the canvas.

"You have betrayed me for my ideals. Now I shall crush you and your petty little team altogether," mumbled Aryan as he watched the cannon charge and fire at the canvas, effectively creating a giant plothole. Aryan smiled devilishly as his armies began marching through.